[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6353 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6353

   To authorize the National Service Animals Monument Corporation to 
  establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its 
                   environs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2022

  Ms. Wild (for herself and Ms. Mace) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the National Service Animals Monument Corporation to 
  establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its 
                   environs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Service Animals Memorial 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the National Service Animals Monument Corporation's 
        mission is to honor and recognize the broad scope of service 
        animals, including working animals, through the creation of a 
        memorial to educate the public of the contributions by service 
        animals and the human-animal bond between service animals and 
        their handlers, whether a person with a disability, a law 
        enforcement officer, military personnel, or other handler;
            (2) formalized service animal work began in 1929 when the 
        Eustice School in New Jersey established the first guide-dog 
        school;
            (3) the purple poppy is the international symbol for the 
        service and sacrifice of service animals;
            (4) on February 24 of each year, National Service Animals 
        Day is celebrated in the United States and throughout the 
        world;
            (5) service and working animals, such as dogs, horses, 
        homing pigeons, donkeys, mules, dolphins, sea lions, and other 
        animals, have worked alongside and supported humans throughout 
        history and have created strong human-animal bonds, including--
                    (A) during the Revolutionary War, horses served in 
                combat carrying soldiers, as well as transporting the 
                wounded and critical supplies;
                    (B) during World War I and World War II--
                            (i) homing pigeons served as critical 
                        messengers with tiny message capsules attached 
                        to their legs that were used to send 
                        communications that saved the lives of 
                        countless soldiers, resulting in many pigeons 
                        becoming the target of enemy fire; and
                            (ii) donkeys and mules transported food, 
                        supplies, and wounded servicemembers; and
                    (C) during the war in Afghanistan--
                            (i) military working dogs safeguarded the 
                        lives of thousands of servicemen by clearing 
                        areas of improvised explosion devices; and
                            (ii) in one example, Lucca, a German 
                        Shepherd-Belgian Malinois service dog, was 
                        employed by the United States Marine Corps for 
                        6 years and trained to detect explosives, 
                        deploying twice to Iraq and once to 
                        Afghanistan, supporting over 400 missions 
                        without a single human fatality, and ultimately 
                        sustaining an injury and amputation in 2012 due 
                        to an improvised explosive device while on 
                        patrol in Afghanistan;
            (6) the bonds formed between military personnel and law 
        enforcement and their working dogs are so strong that they have 
        risked their lives willingly to save the other;
            (7) the tasks that service dogs perform for persons with 
        disabilities are essential activities of daily living, such as 
        guiding people with visual impairments, signaling sounds for 
        those who are deaf, retrieving items for people with mobility 
        issues, alerting about impending cardiac episodes or seizures, 
        turning on lights, providing stability for their owner while 
        standing, and pressing elevator and accessibility buttons;
            (8) in addition to service animals' help with functional 
        tasks and missions, the human-animal bond provides handlers the 
        ability to live independently, work confidently, and socialize 
        freely;
            (9) shelter dogs can be trained as service animals;
            (10) service animals, such as horses and dogs--
                    (A) support a variety of health and therapy 
                services, including for people with autism, 
                schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and bipolar 
                disorder; and
                    (B) specifically, can support servicemembers and 
                veterans who experience traumatic brain injury and 
                post-traumatic stress disorder;
            (11) search and rescue dogs working with civilian or law 
        enforcement handlers make United States communities and the 
        Nation safer when they assist with the rescue of lost children, 
        seniors, and other at-risk individuals, including in the event 
        of natural or manmade disasters, for example--
                    (A) service animals have supported search and 
                rescue missions after terrorist attacks, including 
                September 11 and the Oklahoma City bombing; and
                    (B) service animals have supported local search and 
                rescue missions involving lost children, such as--
                            (i) the service dog Mercy, a bloodhound 
                        with the Lee County, Florida, Sheriff's 
                        department, who tracked a 12-year-old girl for 
                        more than a half mile through thick woods after 
                        she went missing during Tropical Storm Elsa in 
                        July 2021; and
                            (ii) the service dog Gandalf, trained by 
                        the South Carolina Search and Rescue Dog 
                        Association, who found a 12-year-old boy who 
                        had vanished from a campsite in the Blue Ridge 
                        Mountains in North Carolina in March 2019;
            (12) the extraordinary abilities of service animals, 
        including smell, sensing, hearing, eyesight, and empathy, make 
        them uniquely capable of helping humans, including by assisting 
        with the identification of illegal drugs, detecting an 
        impending seizure, hearing a person buried beneath rubble, or 
        seeing an expensive or vital tool dropped by a naval diver;
            (13) service animals provide well-documented value to human 
        health, safety, and security; and
            (14) the National Service Animals Memorial will represent a 
        place of pride, introspection, and education to pay tribute to 
        the contributions and sacrifices made by all service animals 
        and their handlers throughout history.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO ESTABLISH COMMEMORATIVE WORK.

    (a) In General.--The National Service Animals Monument Corporation 
(referred to in this section as the ``Corporation'') may establish a 
commemorative work on Federal land in the District of Columbia and its 
environs to commemorate the heroic deeds and sacrifices of service 
animals and handlers of service animals in the United States.
    (b) Compliance With Standards for Commemorative Works.--The 
establishment of the commemorative work under this section shall be in 
accordance with chapter 89 of title 40, United States Code (commonly 
known as the ``Commemorative Works Act'').
    (c) Prohibition on the Use of Federal Funds.--
            (1) In general.--Federal funds may not be used to pay any 
        expense of the establishment of the commemorative work under 
        this section.
            (2) Responsibility of the national service animals monument 
        corporation.--The Corporation shall be solely responsible for 
        the acceptance of contributions for, and the payment of the 
        expenses of, the establishment of the commemorative work under 
        this section.
    (d) Deposit of Excess Funds.--
            (1) In general.--If, upon payment of all expenses for the 
        establishment of the commemorative work under this section 
        (including the maintenance and preservation amount required by 
        section 8906(b)(1) of title 40, United States Code), there 
        remains a balance of funds received for the establishment of 
        the commemorative work, the Corporation shall transmit the 
        amount of the balance to the Secretary of the Interior for 
        deposit in the account provided for in section 8906(b)(3) of 
        title 40, United States Code.
            (2) On expiration of authority.--If, upon expiration of the 
        authority for the commemorative work under section 8903(e) of 
        title 40, United States Code, there remains a balance of funds 
        received for the establishment of the commemorative work under 
        this section, the Corporation shall transmit the amount of the 
        balance to a separate account with the National Park Foundation 
        for memorials, to be available to the Secretary of the Interior 
        or the Administrator of General Services, as appropriate, in 
        accordance with the process provided in section 8906(b)(4) of 
        title 40, United States Code, for accounts established under 
        paragraph (2) or (3) of section 8906(b) of such title.
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